The Oakland Raiders had so often been running away from him when they weren’t double-teaming him.

But on this play, Corey Liuget had had enough. He figured out what was coming and decided to make something happen.

The Chargers defensive end threw off the guard and then, without hesitation, slid down the line, first to seal one gap and reroute Oakland Raiders running back Marcel Reece outside and then to follow Reece and bring him down after a two-yard gain on second-and-12.

There is doing what you’re supposed to, and there is doing what you have to do.

Liuget did both on that third-quarter play. He did what was necessary.

Finally.

“God help me, I’m going to try to go the extra mile and let’s go make a play,” Liuget said of his mindset in Oakland. “I’m just going to find a play to make.”

The Chargers can hope that signals the beginning of a defensive resurgence.

The Chargers play the Indianapolis Colts tonight, and they have a number of problems on defense that have contributed to a 2-3 record.

They lack speed or any sort of consistent pass rush. The bulk of their secondary is impending doom. They sometimes tackle as if it is a foreign concept.

Some of those issues, we knew about or at least suspected would eventually cause this team to give up more points than it scored.

But there has been one weakness that was supposed to be a strength.

And if it were, maybe there would be more takeaways than the total of two that currently ranks as second-fewest in the NFL, and maybe the speed issues wouldn’t be so debilitating, and maybe the defensive backs wouldn’t have to cover for so long, and …

“For any defense, no matter what, it’s controlling the line of scrimmage,” Chargers Defensive Coordinator John Pagano said. “… It always starts at the front."

Thankfully, then, the above-described play was just one amidst Liuget’s best game so far, by far, this season.

“It’s coming around now,” he said. “I feel more confident.”

Now, it wouldn’t have taken all that good of a game to be better than his first four.

Simply, the guy who finished 2012 with furor -- owning the line most snaps, getting five sacks, 19 tackles and 10 quarterback hurries over the final six games -- was almost a non-factor through the first quarter of this season.

“I’ve been very average,” Liuget said. “I haven’t been doing what I did last year.”

Teams this season are playing Liuget differently, including running plays away from him and often assigning more than one blocker to him. But there is more.

He missed time in the preseason with a shoulder injury that limited him to 13 preseason snaps and has been battling through knee and ankle injuries as well.

It should be noted the injury alert did not come from Liuget.

“It’s all on me,” he said. “My shoulder hasn’t had anything to do with it. I just haven’t been making plays.”

A while later, told it had been learned elsewhere, on good authority, that he was struggling through some aches and pains, Liuget acknowledged that truth.

But he said it is simply a matter of managing, learning how to get the job done no matter what.

“It’s something you watch older guys do,” he said. “You see those guys go through pain here and there, but they push through and make it a season, and it shows leadership and determination that no matter what I can go out and face adversity and play this game.”

Be assured, Liuget can play.

And if he does continue to do so as he did in the most recent game, there is at least some hope yet for the Chargers defense.